Susie Wolff says F1 needs ‘integrity regulator’

Susie Wolff said Formula One needs “a governing body with sporting integrity” early next season after seeing how the championship is decided at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Mercedes announced on Thursday they will not appeal the results of the race, after two protests on Sunday, both rejected by the FIA.

During the late safety car period, the FIA’s race director, Michael Masi, appeared to have overlooked some parts of the sports regulations to ensure the title match was decided by a restart on the final lap. .

That decision gave Verstappen the chance to overtake Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, who had taken the lead from the opening lap of the race and dramatically snatched the title from him.

The FIA ​​has promised to conduct a “clarification exercise” to explain why the final laps of the race turned out the way they did.

Posting on Twitter on Thursday, Susie Wolff, wife of coach Toto Wolff, said: “Going into the final race this weekend, I believe both teams and both drivers deserve to win. It will be a spectacle, a historic race that we all hope will end without controversy.

“What happened is still confusing and still makes me feel uncomfortable. Not losing – and not Max or Red Bull – they were well-deserved winners and we always knew there was a good chance we were may not have won – but the way Lewis was robbed has me completely distrustful.

“The decision of one person in the governing body who has applied the rule in a way that has never been done before in single F1 determines the F1 Drivers World Championship. Rules are rules, they are cannot be changed to an individual’s liking at the end of the race.

“Lewis Hamilton, you have displayed incredible integrity and dignity in the face of injustice. You are the greatest ever. Results of the final laps on Sunday? Those who know, they know, even those who can’t complete themselves to admit it.

“Congratulations Max and congratulate each member of the Mercedes-AMG F1 on your record-breaking eighth builder title – I hope my next March has a governing body with integrity and fair in sport so that I can return to the love of F1.”

On Thursday night, Verstappen will officially receive his F1 championship trophy. Hamilton will also be in attendance – a day after being knighted by Prince Charles at Windsor Castle – as runner-up.

Toto Wolff will also be in attendance to collect the championship trophy of Mercedes’ ‘builders’.

It will be the first time either person has faced the media since Sunday’s race.